Three score and ten or more

Monday, November 22, 2010

Thank you

I’d like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all those who sent messages of sympathy and solace to Janet and myself during the past two weeks. This was a difficult time for us, because, though we knew Eric was ill, we had no inkling of the malignancy in his lung, and were shocked when he went from a functioning rather vibrant human being to collapse and death in less than a week.

The memorial was very healing. The section where his closest friend told us about his life was both sincere and a little funny, When his friends were invited to come up and talk about him was moving and informative. We knew he was brilliant, but really had little idea that he so significantly affected many people. As I said, it was very healing.

We are beginning to relax get into our rhythm of hypochondria with a bit less tension and a realistic outlook.

I have been trying to write a story of his life, but I am still at the stage where my mind is so flooded with memories that I end up playing spider solitaire at the computer. We are going to Columbia, S.C. to celebrate Thanksgiving with our daughter. Our son who lives here and our son who came from Washington state for the Memorial are coming with us. We will then go to Memphis where another son is singing in the choir with the Memphis Symphony, and then out to Washington to see some of our grandchildren> I will try to get it together and report on our condition and activities, but won’t promise to be very regular. Thanks again.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Mostly for my extended family who follow this more closely than others

My oldest son has had a liver problem for several years, and we have been hoping for things to be arranged so that he could have a transplant. For the past two weeks he has been failing rapidly. We got him into a hospital Wednesday, and in his initial exam they took a chest x-ray. The nurse came in a couple of hours later (He was still in the Emergency room) to say that he seemed to have a mass behind his left lung. They went in an gave him a CT scan.

The next morning, after he was admitted, they told us that the mass was IN the lung, and they were testing for a malignancy, He had a terrible night and when the oncologist told us, this morning, that it was malignant, and the largest such that he had ever seen, my son was beyond paying much attention.. He went from clear lungs four months ago to a malignancy so large that it is crowding the heart out of place, and that is inoperable. Today he was admitted to hospice. Good thoughts, prayers, or whatever works for you would be appreciated.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

One a those days.

WE finally got my oldest son into the hospital yesterday. It took from about ten A.M. till late in the evening. (Getting an uninsured fifty-plus uninsured person into the hospital is not an easy thing.) He had been failing rapidly for about a week. Besides the liver problem (which we knew about) they found one lung full of fluid, his abdominal cavity full of fluid, gall stones, a yeast infection in his mouth (which is one reason he has almost completely lost his voice) and as we left late last night they were taking him in for another CT scan of his chest to try to identify some kind of mass which the x-rays showed behind his bad lung.

WE are going back this morning, but for the first time in a couple of weeks I feel pretty good about his care and condition.

Saturday, November 06, 2010

They really think we are stupid

Just small observations. Did we all not notice that the 24 can pack of Coke products has just become a 20 pack (for the same price.)?

Not to pick on Coke particularly, but yesterday I happened into Wal-Mart and noticed a big display of two liter bottles of Coke products on sale for ninety nine cents apiece. I picked up a couple of bottles of Coke Zero and smiled at saving a quarter or two. Today, while shopping for some dairy products, I noted the same display and thought I would buy a couple more. As I picked up the bottle, it seemed a bit lighter and smaller so I looked closely at the label. The same display that yesterday had two liter bottles for 99 cents was now full of one and one half liter bottles for the same price. I wandered down to the carbonated beverage general display and found that two liters now cost $1.49.

It is a little like the ongoing shift of dairy product labels. One half gallon has now, for most brands become one point five gallons. But wait, one national brand has advertised “two extra scoops” . A real gallon” Not on your bippy. The new package has 1.7 gallons. It seems that the ice cream is selling well in spite of rapidly shifting sizes of cartons. One national brand has made it a hall mark to draw our attention to shifting sizes by trumpet “One full half gallon”. But it is just a matter of time.

Almost every product we buy has a bottle or container that looks just like the one we bought last year but is short and ounce or two or four.

We still keep buying but in no time at all the whole dang shrinking business will start again.

About Me

Richard B. Johnson, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Actor, Director, Puppeteer, Playwright, Teacher,Writer, Thingmaker, Mormon, Person, Fool. I sometimes think that the last persona is the most important- and most valuable. Http://www.PuppenRich.com . All written material and photographs copyright -C- Richard B. Johnson 2005.
You can guess from the blog title that I am oldish.